


The Language Barrier (West Coast Blues Mix)

by Revieloutionne



Category: Power Rangers Samurai, Samurai Sentai Shinkenger
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-22
Updated: 2015-06-22
Packaged: 2018-04-05 13:53:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,218
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4182327
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revieloutionne/pseuds/Revieloutionne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kevin had dealt with enough "out of the blue" puns from his teammates, but for the universe itself to make one was really something else.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Language Barrier (West Coast Blues Mix)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/gifts).
  * Inspired by [The Language Barrier](https://archiveofourown.org/works/3507839) by [Estirose](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Estirose/pseuds/Estirose). 



> Dialogue inside 「Japanese quotation marks」 is in Japanese.

As happy as Ji had been to see the rangers have normal lives after the defeat of the Nighlok, that didn't mean he didn't miss having them around. They all stopped by now and again, but it was rare for their schedules to line up so that everyone could visit at once. So when Kevin qualified for the Pan Global Games a couple years later, he wasn't surprised to find the rangers happily rescheduling a weekend to accommodate his request to get everyone together to celebrate.

Ji had been in and out of the kitchen all day, preparing a dinner that was probably more elaborate than was strictly called for, but Mia and Antonio were happy to help. He couldn't even find it in himself to chide Mike for wandering in to graze, but he needed to get started on the cake he was surprising Kevin with (not, he expected, that Kevin would partake at this point in his training, but a celebration without cake just isn't right) so he gently shooed everyone out.

When he turned back to the kitchen, there was a very startled young man in Kabuki costume and about half his makeup, clearly as shocked to be there as Ji was to discover him. The two recovered from their shock enough to speak at nearly the same time.

「Where is this?」 the young man asked.

“Who are you?” Ji asked, before immediately answering the intruder. “This is the Shiba house-”

「Shiba? What do you know about the Shiba family?」 The young man moved into an offensive stance. 「What have you done to them? Are you Gedou-」

“What have I _done_ to them?” Ji asked incredulously. “Young man I have served them from practically my childhood. Now, I'm not familiar with any actors among the samurai families, so I'm only going to ask once more: who _are_ you?”

「Why are you speaking English? This is Japan! At least slow down, I can't understand half of what you're saying!」

“Why am I...?” Ji finally registered that the young man had been speaking Japanese. 「I'm sorry, it's been years since anyone spoke to me in Japanese. I'm not sure what happened, but you're in California, young man. In the Shiba household, where I have been raising Jayden since his father passed.」

「But... there are no Shibas in California,」 the boy said, sounding slightly unsure, 「they all stayed in Tokyo, to remain prepared for the Gedoushuu's return.」

「There haven't been Shibas in Japan for over 200 years, when they followed the Nighlok to colonial California. I think...」 Ji paused, thankful that Antonio's plans to catch Jayden up on pop culture had included science fiction films, but doubting the idea they were giving him, 「I think you haven't just traveled a distance, but to another Earth, with a different history.」

「Perhaps,」 the boy said, but before he could continue, the unattended stove set the fire alarm off.

***

After a lot of confusion, and even more of Ji playing interpreter (Kevin helping where he could, as the only ranger who had taken upon himself to go beyond learning kanji by meaning for symbol power use and actually start learning Japanese), things settled down.

His name was Ryuunosuke, he had symbol power, and he was a blue ranger just like Kevin, which was absolutely impossible as there was only one set of Samurai Morphers in existence. There was no record of any Shiba family remaining in Japan anywhere in Ji's library, nor anything resembling even the implication of a schism that might have led to such a thing happening.

As far as anyone could tell, Ryuunosuke came from an Earth with a very similar but clearly divergent history, where he was the sort-of-equivalent to Kevin, and he had no idea why he was now _here_.

“So...” Mike said, “now that we cleared all that up, what do we _do_?”

“There's another library where Lauren was training,” Ji said. “I'm going to take Jayden and Lauren there and we're going to see if there's any record of anything like this happening.”

「And me?」 Ryuunosuke asked.

「I think it's best if you stay with Kevin for the time being,」 Ji said.

“What?!” Kevin said. “Ji, my _training_ -”

「You think I don't understand training?」 Ryuunosuke asked. 「You think I'll interfere?」

Kevin blushed. 「No. I'm sorry. I...」 He drew a blank trying to find the words he wanted. 「My... um. I don't like surprise changes.」

“You like...” Ryuunosuke said, using English to reflect Kevin's courtesy of using Japanese, “the same every day. I understand. I can do fine alone.”

“Oh!” Emily exclaimed. “What about his clothes? I'd love to take him shopping, but if he goes out like that, it'll cause a whole scene...”

“I hate to impose on you further, Kevin,” Ji said, “but you're the closest to his size. If you could spare something for now, I'm sure he'd appreciate it.”

Kevin's blush deepened. “I- I can do that. Sure.” He turned to Ryuunosuke and nodded toward his room. Ryuunosuke gave him a quizzical look. 「Clothes.」

“Ah!” Ryuunosuke looked down at himself, suddenly remembering how he was dressed. “Good.”

As they headed to his room, Kevin heard Mike laughing about something and Emily shushing him, but he missed what. Once Ryuunosuke had picked out an outfit, he sat outside the room while he changed, and noticed Mia giving him a sympathetic look on her way to help save dinner. He just nodded back, because having a guest honestly wasn't going to be as bad as his outburst implied he felt.

(But then he remembered the sight of Ryuunosuke already starting to shrug off his costume as the door closed. It was going to be worse than that, too.)

***

Ji sent Emily and Ryuunosuke off to shop the next day while he prepared his and Jayden's things for their trip, and Emily insisted on bringing Kevin along.

He didn't really mind, although it hadn't been his first choice on how to spend the day. Ryuunosuke actually had a pretty decent sense of style, and he picked up a few shirts for himself while they were out.

And then, when Emily took their haul to the register and he and Ryuunosuke re-folded the items they'd decided against to make things easier for the clerks, Ryuunosuke tapped his shoulder, leaned in, and quietly asked “Pants?”

「Emily is paying,」 Kevin said. Ryuunosuke squinted at him and shook his head. 「The jeans and cargos and-」

“No no no” Ryuunosuke interrupted and pulled the waistband of the pair of Kevin's underwear he was wearing up out of his jeans, blushing profusely. “ _Pants_.”

“Oh! Oh, right.” Kevin toyed with his shirt's cuffs. 「The far wall. I'll tell Emily.」 He watched Ryuunosuke walk off, and when he got to the counter all he was able to do was gesture in the right direction and squeak out “underwear.” At least Emily was blushing too.

The walk back to the Shiba house was silent.

***

It didn't take long to settle into a routine once Ryuunosuke settled into Kevin's place. He was just as much of a morning person, and made a good partner for morning jogs. He was just as exacting about his diet, and kept his space neat. Ryuunosuke occupied himself rehearsing Kabuki while Kevin trained, sometimes visiting Panorama City's Little Japan neighborhood. (Not nearly as extensive, he was told, as Reefside's, but it was still comfortingly like home.)

They lived together easily, which made the knowledge this wouldn't last weigh heavily.

***

A week later, when Kevin was really starting to fret about the lack of word from Ji, Ryuunosuke looked straight at Kevin across the dinner table and asked “Are we related?”

Kevin dropped his fork and looked up. “What?”

“Aha!” Ryuunosuke said, snapping and pointing at Kevin. “You used English! I win!”

「There was no competition!」 Kevin said, fully aware that there had been a competition, though neither of them had formally announced it. 「Why did you ask?」

“Your family left Japan long ago. I know our relation is... long?” Ryuunosuke said, gesturing with his arms wide. “Is far? It is not close, if we have one, yes?”

「It would not be close,」 Kevin said, 「but no water samurai has been Ikenami. We've all been-」 His morpher rang, the display indicating the call was from Ji. He answered. “Have you found anything out?”

“ _Good evening_ , Kevin,” Ji said. “We have not. We've already exhausted the sections of the library here likely to help, but we're going to keep scouring everything. It doesn't look likely, though.”

“...Oh.” Kevin could see Ryuunosuke straining to hide his eavesdropping. “That's... unfortunate.”

“Yes, well,” Ji said. “It's clear Ryuunosuke's team have not had any better luck on their side. It's possible everyone is going to draw a blank and this is permanent.”

“I'd rather not consider that, Ji.”

“I think it would behoove you to do so, Kevin,” Ji said. “And I must say it certainly isn't like you not to have a plan in place for all contingencies.” This got a chuckle from Kevin. “We are most certainly not giving up here – we've pulled through tough odds before – but wherever you set your expectations, you need to think about what it would mean to have that boy around for a long time.”

“Of course, Ji,” Kevin said, wanting nothing more than to never think about that at all.

“Would you mind putting him on?” Ji asked. “I'd like to pick his brain about what his old team might know.”

“Sure thing,” Kevin said. He handed the phone to Ryuunosuke with a quick「For you,」before leaving the room. He didn't have anywhere in mind to go, but anywhere was better than listening to Ryuunosuke work on going home.

***

Ryuunosuke had talked him into learning some Kabuki. “You will never be on stage,” Ryuunosuke had said, “but it can be calming.” Kevin didn't ask what Ryuunosuke needed to be calmed about.

***

Kevin was beginning to think – worry, really – that Ryuunosuke might like him back. They'd taken to watching samurai films on weekends, and more than once they'd fallen asleep together on the couch. Kevin suspected Ryuunosuke sometimes faked not having woken up yet too. The idea that he could have this was so tempting, but this wasn't where Ryuunosuke belonged.

He started training longer so there wasn't time for movies. 「The Pan Globals are getting closer,」 he told Ryuunosuke. 「You understand.」

“I do,” Ryuunosuke said, hiding his disappointment poorly. “You will still dance with me?”

「Yes,」 Kevin said, against his better judgment, 「of course.」

***

“Can I see you train sometime?” Ryuunosuke asked. “It has been months.”

「My training is boring,」 Kevin said.

“I have shown you mine,” Ryuunosuke said. “I want to see yours.”

Kevin assured himself Ryuunosuke was unfamiliar with the phrase. 「Okay. Not all day,」 Kevin said. 「A strong morning training, so I can visit afternoon.」

There were two things that Kevin hadn't counted on when he made this plan. First, and he should have expected this, is that he would lose track of time while pushing himself. Second is that Ryuunosuke would show up in a speedo that would be small even for a water polo player.

His years of swim training meant he had plenty of practice not reacting to an attractive guy in a revealing swimsuit, but he was still caught off guard and had to take a moment before pulling himself out of the pool.

Ryuunosuke, he discovered, clearly did not have that practice. Kevin turned away. 「It happens,」 Kevin said. 「The water is cold.」

“Ah,” Ryuunosuke said. “Good.” Kevin waited until he heard him enter the water before facing the pool.

The rest of training was an absolute mess.

***

Another week passed, and Kevin's extra training was burning him out, but if he cut back on it he'd have to explain why he'd faked needing it.

But then he nearly passed out onto the stove while making dinner, and as Ryuunosuke moved him to the couch he suspected he was going to have to explain anyway.

Ryuunosuke brought him water and let him rest a while. He was still there when Kevin woke up.

“You have been avoiding me,” Ryuunosuke said.

「Yes,」 Kevin said. 「I'm sorry.」

“But,” Ryuunosuke said, not quite looking at Kevin, “you do not dislike me.”

「I do not,」 Kevin said.

“You will be miserable if I leave?” Ryuunosuke asked.

「Very much,」 Kevin said, sighing.

“Then why be miserable now?”

「Because...」 Kevin searched for words to explain. 「Because I...」

“Because you make yourself miss me before I have gone,” Ryuunosuke said. “Fool.”

「Fool?」 Kevin asked?

“Yes,” Ryuunosuke said, before gently kissing Kevin. “Sleep now. Talk later.”

「Ah,」 Kevin said. 「Good.」

***

Kevin still worried that this would make the pain of parting worse, of course. As a worrier, he could only do so much. But, he thought, as he watched Ryuunosuke dance for the other rangers at the Shiba house, the happiness he had now would be worth it. That happiness might, a tiny part of him he didn't dare listen to kept saying, be enough for Ryuunosuke to choose to stay.

Not even the ribbing he got from the other rangers when he kissed Ryuunosuke afterwards could bring him down, although he could swear he saw Jayden quietly pass a five to a beaming Ji.


End file.
